I generally have 6 or 7 2x4 plots, some indoor, some outdoor. One indoor and one outdoor plot are specifically textile plots (pig tails, dimple cups and rope reed only).
For the others I generally aim for as much variety as possible in any given season. I keep an overabundance of rock pots, letting the brewery never stop but just come to a crawl when the stockpile is full.
Another thing is that I cook neither plants nor seeds directly, just mill products. That puts an extra stockpile (the mill stockpile) into the food pipeline, which means more time to react
to looming overproduction, which is usually handled by replacing more food crops with textile crops (dyes and thread). It took a while to get the hang of a continuous process,
but the key I think is small farm plots, adequately-sized stockpiles and a rock-solid textile industry.
My most recent forts have had milling, threshing, dyeing, brewing and (lavish) cooking on autopilot for years on end, mainly due to the good "condensation" effect of textiles.
Plants become dye twice, become cloth twice, the two cloths are dyed, one is made into a robe and the other is sewn into the robe as a decoration. Some more are made into bags, to
be used for mill and seeds, some become well and prison ropes, etc. Once your dyer and clothier get good, textiles can be a wonderful source of income and in my forts generally supplant
all other exports - such as crafts - almost completely.
It is very satisfying when you do get the balance right - looking on your eternally busy farmers with fully planted plots and not a single withered plant, and perpetually 80%-full stockpiles.
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Topic: Agriculture (Read 3619 times)